


Mexico (The Bright Lights, Big City Club Mix)

by escritoireazul



Category: Fast & Furious (2009), Fast and the Furious Series, Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006)
Genre: Character of Color, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-03-25
Updated: 2010-03-25
Packaged: 2017-10-08 07:39:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/74248
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/escritoireazul/pseuds/escritoireazul
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Han knows better than to race just to win.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mexico (The Bright Lights, Big City Club Mix)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [raz0rgirl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/raz0rgirl/gifts).



> Author's Note: This is a transformative work set during The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift and Fast &amp; Furious. Dialog in part I and part II taken from Tokyo Drift. Inspired by this exchange:  
> Sean: So how'd you end up over here anyway?  
> Han: You know those old westerns, where the cowboys make a run for the border? This is my Mexico.  
> Spoilers: For both movies.

I.

Sean's hands are sturdy, fingers thick and blunt. With time, Han thinks he'll remind him of Dominic Toretto, but for now Sean's far too young, puppy awkward and over eager. Still, there's something familiar to him.

The city spreads around them -- above, below, skyscrapers in the distance rising so high -- everywhere lights in the darkness, sharp little points. The patterns of the windows in the buildings, some lit up, some empty and dark, could be headlights circling a mountain, the only light in the depth of midnight, pirates of the highway driving too fast, double clutching, redlining, racing through the darkness not to win but just to run.

"You make choices and you don't look back," Han says and knows it's almost a lie.

A gentle breeze stirs, soft as the brush of long dark hair against his cheek, and he closes his eyes.

Sounds from the street below rise up and for a moment, he's back in the Dominican Republic, that last tanker, that last night, the ocean so loud, like a pulse, like the way his heart beats in time with Dom's, the way Dom's heart beats in time with Letty's.

They circle Dom, all of them always, everyone he's ever touched, even Dom's sister, left behind in Los Angeles to protect the family home, like the currents of the ocean surging around the earth.

When he opens his eyes, the bright lights of Tokyo dazzle him.

II.

Sean shows up late one night, looking for a place to crash. In the moment Han stares down at him, this underage kid teetering on the line between boy and man, he remembers the way Dom looked at him once, all-knowing racing god, his eyes dark and deep as the Mariana Trench.

He probably looked at Dom the way Sean's looking at him.

"Get this man a bunk," Han says and feels the weight of being gravity settle over him.

III.

It's been weeks, but the words still don't feel real. They stick in his throat when he tries to say them out loud, syllables falling away into silence. Maybe if he wasn't alone with his knowledge, if anyone else knew what it meant, maybe then he could speak.

The call lingers in his thoughts.

"Letty's dead." Dom's voice is rough over the phone, a broken engine's growl. Silence between them then, only the echo of the borders they've crossed, the cities in which they seek freedom.

There are few details, and the funeral is soon. Han offers to return, says he'll be there fast, but no.

"Stay away," Dom says, and, "Stay safe."

Han does, because Dominic tells him so, but it is a near thing.

Letty's buried beneath dirt and rocks, trapped in a box, marked with stone, and Dominic's heart is broken. The ocean is silent in Han's thoughts, the tide stilled, and it is, in many ways, the end of a world.

The first night after the call, Han goes to the roof near dawn and watches the sunrise color the sky. It's a new dawn here in his new world and he gathers himself, finds his balance in this loss of gravity.

IV.

Han runs for the border, for his Mexico, on Dominic's order. It takes months before he stops hearing Dom's voice in the back of his head, before he stops thinking, What would Dominic do?, every time he makes a decision.

His people surround him, watching him, and still he hears the ocean, feels Dominic's pull.

V.

In the end he's alone and he knows he did it wrong and Dominic would have done everything better.

There's a moment of pain, upside down, crushed, the drip of gas as loud as the crash of the waves on the beach, then as the heat of the sun washes over him, Letty's smile dazzles him and he can hear her laugh.


End file.
